Race in Cuba

Essays on the Revolution and Racial Inequality

Gary Prevost, Esteban Morales Domínguez, August Nimtz

• Editorial: Monthly Review Press
• Año: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781583673232
• Categoría: Ciencias sociales
• Categoría: Discriminación y relaciones raciales

As a young militant in the 26th of July Movement, Esteban Morales Domínguez participated in the overthrow of the Batista regime and the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. The revolutionaries, he understood, sought to establish a more just and egalitarian society. But Morales Dominguez, an Afro-Cuban, knew that the complicated question of race could not be ignored, or simply willed away in a post-revolutionary context. Today, he is one of Cuba’s most prominent Afro-Cuban intellectuals and its leading authority on the race question. Available for the first time in English, the essays collected here describe the problem of racial inequality in Cuba, provide evidence of its existence, constructively criticize efforts by the Cuban political leadership to end discrimination, and point to a possible way forward. Morales Dominguez surveys the major advancements in race relations that occurred as a result of the revolution, but does not ignore continuing signs of inequality and discrimination. Instead, he argues that the revolution must be an ongoing process and that to truly transform society it must continue to confront the question of race in Cuba.

1—Challenges of the Racial Question in Cuba

There are very few contemporary writings on the subject of race in this country, and those that do exist are by and large found in journals, especially Temas and Catauro.¹ Abroad, there have been more publications dealing with the subject on a contemporary basis. Aline Helg, Alejandro de la Fuente, and Carlos Moore are noteworthy for their extensive research. But none of them share the vicissitudes of daily life in Cuba with us, and this can be seen in their writings. Even though we might not share some of their opinions, they make notable contributions.

This situation tells us that in addition to the difficulties associated with this subject within present-day Cuban society—something we will deal with later—we have in effect handed over to others the task of analyzing a problem of vital importance in this country’s life. The resultant danger is that—in response—we find ourselves having to clarify matters about which we have still not been able to have a scientific discussion of our own. Therefore, it is of prime importance that we try to work out our own vision, from the island, of the racial question in Cuban society in these complex times.

This objective encompasses a desire to examine the existence of this problem within present-day Cuban reality, making clear that it is not simply a case of inherited burdens, but rather a problem that our society is still capable of generating. We must also call attention to the danger that racism and discrimination could again take root in the macro-consciousness of today’s society.

The fundamental problems that we run up against regarding the subject of race include ignorance about it, continual avoidance of the topic, as well as insufficient treatment of the subject. Many people feel that it is not worth talking about this topic.

In Desafios de la problematica racial en Cuba,² which this essay summarizes, my aim was to develop a model for studying and researching this subject—fulfilling the need to theorize about it—and examining the scope and form in which many phenomena of the problem are studied at present. In reality, with the exception of some of the investigative works of the Anthropology Center of CITMA [Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment], which are still unpublished,³ we did not find earlier studies that are worthy of mention regarding either of those two aims. The vast majority of the Anthropology Center studies are the fruit of praiseworthy research that has gotten caught up in the whirlwind of bureaucracy, ignorance, and fear of publicizing the findings.⁴

It might have seemed that racism and discrimination had disappeared from Cuban society. At least that is what many believed. But the economic crisis at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, with its strong undercurrent of social crisis, caused racism to resurface with the virulence that can be expected from a problem that, having been seen as solved, in fact was not. To imagine it had been solved was an example of the worst kind of pure idealism.

Racism and racial discrimination was eliminated from the institutional frameworks of the state and the government with the triumph of the Revolution in 1959. But the phenomenon maintained a toehold in the family, individual attitudes, and some institutions, and today there is the danger of its reestablishment in the macro-consciousness of Cuban society. This could take place through mechanisms that inject prejudice and negative racial stereotypes into the population, as well as through the dynamics of the relations between the formal institutions and the informal networks of power.⁵

Therefore, we need to take stock of this phenomenon. We need to examine the mechanisms through which racism spreads and how we can help to design tools that allow us fight it. In this regard I begin with a series of premises.

Racism arose from slavery. In the Americas slavery took the form of color. Blacks, most of the time poor, were brought in the slave ships from the west coast of Africa and turned into slaves. It did not take long for the enslavement of these human beings to be justified on the basis of their being black.

For generations, blacks and their descendants occupied the lowest rung in Cuban society—first colonial and then neo-colonial society. We cannot expect that in a little less than a half-century since its triumph the Revolution could fully lift them out of their situation of inferiority. All the more so if we consider that owing to certain historic vicissitudes, the racial question, of all the social problems that the Revolution tackled since 1959, may have been the theme on which there has been the least progress.

We should not confuse the degree of social justice achieved by the many racial groups that make up our society today with the disappearance of racism, because racism is a complex multidimensional and multi-causal matter that does not disappear solely through achievement of higher levels of social justice. Cuba is a tangible example of this.

In the years immediately following the triumph of the Revolution, social, economic, and political conditions emerged that practically made “color” disappear from the considerations of the typical Cuban. New political conditions, in turn, encouraged an idealistic view on the part of the political leadership as well as the majority of the citizenry—including the vast majority of blacks—that it was possible to forget about racism.

In 1959, the chief of the Revolution had frontally and forcefully attacked the existing racial discrimination, which had been a direct inheritance from Republican Cuba. However, not long afterward, the language changed; the case was seen as closed, and in 1962 the matter was declared solved in the Second Declaration of Havana. After that a long period of silence ensued.

In practice, the subject of racism was no longer spoken of, until it reappeared in the second half of the 1980s, when the political leadership itself raised it. The complex conditions that had encouraged silence concerning the subject of race gave way to the economic and political shockwaves at the end of the 1980s, giving rise to a more realistic vision about what had actually occurred with racism, which encouraged a more objective and critical analysis of the situation.

Proclaimed at a mass meeting in 1962 that the problem of racial discrimination and racism had been solved was an error of idealism and wishful thinking. As a direct result, the subject of race has become the most avoided and ignored topic in our social reality. A significant segment of our intelligentsia pays it no attention, does not even deem it worthy of consideration, and thus there are major differences among our intellectuals over where we stand in terms of the consolidation of the nation and its culture. However, speaking scientifically, there cannot be the slightest doubt that when we talk about “race” in Cuba—even though this is a social invention—we are talking about culture and nation.

Moreover, making the subject taboo, removing it from all social and political arenas, gave rise to a social environment that made it more difficult to refer to racism. Those who brought it up were ideologically and politically repressed. In the sphere of culture the subject of race was still broached to a degree, but from the standpoint of the sciences it was impossible to do research on it, and especially to write about it. According to the prevailing view after 1962, in the midst of the political confrontation of those years, anyone who critically analyzed racism was playing into the hands of those who wanted to socially divide Cubans, and it earned that person the epithet of being a racist or a divider, or both.

If you don’t deal with “skin color” as what it is, a historical variable of social differentiation among Cubans, you could forget that blacks, whites, and mestizos did not start from the same place in taking advantage of the opportunities the Revolution provided. So it was overlooked that many of the poor were black, which represents an additional disadvantage, even within present-day Cuban society.

Color exerted its influence and even though blacks and mestizos were treated in exactly the same manner as poor whites, they remained at a greater disadvantage. Later it was shown that it was not enough to be born in the same hospital, to attend the same school and same recreation center, if some children return to a tenement, to a marginal neighborhood, while others had a substantial house, parents earning good salaries in much better living conditions, conditions that do not characterize the immense majority of non-whites, and especially blacks. The neighborhoods are different, as are the families and their living standards.

Black and white children might have the same opportunities, but this does not mean that they all will be equally capable of overcoming the historic starting points bequeathed by their families, living conditions, neighborhood, etc. Unfortunately, social policies at the time of the triumph of the Revolution did not take skin color into account, with consequences that must now be corrected.

Certain subjects are useful for exploring the series of problems that seriously affect the racial balance in the social, educational, and cultural spheres. In the early years of the Revolution, in the context of the needs of the struggle against imperialism, excessive priority was given to questions related to the national identity, and matters of cultural identity were often given short shrift. Racism and discrimination were also fed by the stereotypes and prejudices against cultures originating from Africa. The upshot of this was that the dominance of “white Hispanicism” still retained its hold on our culture, despite the efforts made to reemphasize the values of the African presence within the national culture. Although we see a high degree of integration in our culture, racism and white dominance still leave their mark upon it. This type of situation can reflect a strong component of prejudices and negative stereotypes regarding the value of cultures coming from Africa; although there is also a significant economic component, given that virtually all the African countries are poor.

In addition, unfortunately, an ideopolitical atmosphere developed in Cuba wherein defining oneself racially is frowned upon. This affected the dynamics of personal identity, which must function as an integrated system whose components, valued individually, are important in fighting social perversions such as racism. A person must first know who he is before he can have the possibility of being part of some other thing. The consciousness of each individual cannot be subsumed within the national consciousness; all people make up an integrated system in which the whole does not function without the parts.

But this view implicitly implies a strong respect for diversity, which has been lacking in Cuban society. Diversity is the objective, one with which we grapple every day. Unity is an unrealizable goal if it is not built within the context of diversity.

Blacks and mestizos in Cuba, with very rare exceptions, do not have a genealogical tree and cannot trace their surnames to Africa or to Spain. In particular, the identity of blacks has always been under strong assault. Blacks have had to navigate a road mined by racial discrimination and nonrecognition of their values. Even when the economic level of a black person might have been similar to that of a white person, it did not save him from being racially discriminated against. This indicates that we are not simply dealing with an economic question.

With a certain amount of help the white person can escape from poverty and his color helps him escape being discriminated against for being poor. However, the other one carries the color of his skin with him. Therefore, even though he might escape poverty, he would continue to be excluded. What adaptation would allow the black person to leave discrimination behind; under what color could he hide? Although pulling him out of poverty might be difficult, achieving the conditions so that he is not discriminated against is even more difficult. These conditions are not just economic. They go much further.

Adding to the problems of the identity of blacks is that they tend not to have a recognized history. We have not been able to get beyond a version of our written history in which the black and the mestizo, especially the black, are scarcely mentioned. With very few exceptions, found in independent works, we almost completely lack a social history of blacks and mestizos in Cuba that would be comparable with the one that exists for the white population. This situation affects all of Cuban society, which is unable to develop an integral, realistic view of its historic development and therefore not infrequently muddles along with a distorted image of the true role that each racial group played in the formation of the culture and the nation.

The way power is distributed in present-day Cuban society does not go beyond what existed prior to 1959; within society white dominance is still forcefully expressed, especially at the level of what is called the “new economy.” This is especially evident in the absence of blacks in the upper leadership levels of the state, government, and institutions of civil society in general, although not in the party structure. A recent example is that there is not one single black among the fourteen provincial chairs of People’s Power.

This is in complete contradiction to the leadership policy put forward by the party in 1985, which is a long way from being realized in terms of racial representation. The matter is certainly much more complicated than the question of whether there might be blacks and mestizos in all the positions, but undoubtedly what is happening seriously affects the participation of non-whites in the structures of power.

The problems related to “whitening” still exist within our societal reality. What else would explain why so many people who are not white are unwilling to identify themselves that way? This distorts the census figures and moves the question of race into a realm of deception and hypocrisy, making it absurd to think that mestizism might be the solution, when what should be mixed are various forms of consciousness to create a consciousness that makes color disappear. So that, as Nicolás Guillén says, we come to “Cuban color.” The attitude of many black or mestizo people toward their own pigmentation indicates that they do not find it advantageous to identify themselves as such.

Other aspects that are part of how present-day Cuban society presents itself ideologically are also affected, and these spheres also suffer from the imbalance in racial representation. We have a prime example in national television, where the number of blacks and mestizos in front of the cameras is very low. It is seen in the nearly total absence of blacks or mestizos in leading positions on our educational channels. Confronting racism requires that there be a balanced representation, especially on television, which has such an influence in providing role models and requires that all racial groups be represented.

The subject of race is not dealt with in school. This can result in a profound and dangerous dichotomy between scholastic education and social reality. We are not preparing our young people to deal with what they will later find when they go out into the streets. Things do not pass into the culture unless they are introduced in the schools, and this is an important flaw in our education regarding a subject of vital importance. Our curricula and educational programs are still characterized by full-blown “Occidentalism.” African and Asian cultures are basically absent from the curriculum. As a result, students do not receive an integral and balanced education as members of a mono-ethnic and multiracial society, so when they leave the classroom we cannot be sure that they understand the roots of Cuban culture, much less the nation’s real history. In the majority of cases they have a Manichean and stereotyped vision of the most important aspects of that history. Not to mention that they ought to know who Aponte was, the history of the so-called Little War of 1912, and the Party of the Independents of Color.

As I said earlier, Cuban scientific work has barely begun to focus on the question of race. In the course of these nearly fifty years of the revolutionary process, almost all of the most important intellectual work on this subject, from the perspective of the social and human sciences, has been done outside Cuba.⁶ This is a weakness because we have almost totally handed over a vital aspect of our reality, with the resulting dangers that ensue for our scientific and cultural development and for the political and ideological struggle in defense of our social goals. Today in Cuba we have various challenges regarding this subject, which we must seriously confront.

Trying to gain a fundamental understanding of the context of this problem—which has for so long been ignored, swept under the rug, forgotten, neglected, and even repressed—has given rise to a very complicated situation in the framework of political policies. There is no well-rounded understanding of the situation by the institutions, social and political organizations, or leading sectors of the state apparatus. At times there is not even an acceptance that the problem exists. Instead, we see resistance. As a result it is virtually impossible to predict the reactions that dealing with it openly might generate. We see attitudes that run the gamut from a totally cynical approach to fear and ignorance, all the way to the most heavy-handed denial of the existence of a racial problem.

Not dealing with a problem of such importance would continue to engender bewilderment, ignorance, and social discomfort in those who suffer from discrimination, whether directly or as a result of not having acquired an anti-discriminatory ethic. Avoidance of the issue would lead to a level of social hypocrisy that would turn the racial problem into an endemic ill, with consequences for societal coexistence, the nation, and Cuban culture. This problem is something we must not leave to future generations. What kind of a basic overall culture can we have in a society that retains negative racial stereotypes, discrimination based on skin color, and racism? Society must come up with an integrated strategy to struggle against negative racial stereotypes, discrimination, and racism in today’s Cuba.

We must not deal with social phenomena solely on the basis of classifying the population according to sex and age while passing over skin color. Cuba is not Sweden or Holland. Skin color has historically been—and continues to be—a factor of social differentiation within the Cuban population. Race or skin color, class and gender, go hand in hand in the country’s history. Skin color, social differences, poverty, imbalances in the distribution of power, discrimination, lack of empowerment, negative racial stereotypes, and racism have always gone together in the island’s history. What country are we talking about if we do not consider color as a fundamental trait of our population? What democracy do we speak of if one segment of our population continues being discriminated against because of skin color? This is a problem for all of society, not solely for blacks and mestizos; it is something everyone has to solve. To do that, to lay out an effective working strategy, people must be made conscious that the problem exists. They need to fundamentally understand the place that history reserved for each racial group; to realize that there is racism on the part of whites as well as blacks; a racism that stresses assigning each “their rightful place” flowing from a structure of class and power that allows some to discriminate against others. They need to understand that the response to these differences cannot be to maintain a social dynamic based on prejudice, stereotypes, mutual discrimination and poverty. Rather, it must be based on an understanding of history and on an attitude of melding consciousness in order to uproot these evils from our culture and the Cuban way of life.

Only by openly dealing with the question of race can we put an end to the ignorance, cynicism, and hypocrisy that still lie below the surface when race ...